1. Field of the Invention
The present invention discloses a balloon toy vehicle which has fill directional control, altitude control, an anti-spin adjustment and a motorized release feature that permits an object to be lifted and dropped remotely.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, there have been a number of attempts to develop a toy which simulates a dirigible or lighter than air ship.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,029 (Hutchinson) discloses a remote control lighter-than-air toy having an inflatable container in the shape of a dirigible. A gondola is removably attached to the inflatable container and has a shaft extending there through and rotatably supported thereon. A reversible electric motor is attached to each end portion of the shaft passing through the gondola with each motor having a propeller attached for rotation upon actuation of the motor. The motors and propellers are rotatably attached to the shaft. A radio receiver is connected to each of the electric motors with a plurality of conductors. A control box has a radio transmitter therein and a plurality of controls thereon for transmitting to said receiver and remotely controlling each motor separately, so that a lighter than air toy can be can be remotely controlled with two propellers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,335 (Thompson) discloses a flight direction control system for blimps, using radio controls. This system is for a full size blimp.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,015 (Davis) discloses a radio controlled hot air balloon, particularly suitable for hobbyists, The balloon includes a balloon envelope, a burner assembly, and a radio control system. The altitude of the balloon is remotely controlled by adjusting the amount of hot air produced by the burner assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,542 (Britt, Jr.) discloses a helium-filled remote-controlled saucer toy having a central aperture disposed there through, a filling mechanism for allowing the saucer to be filled with helium gas for enabling the saucer to hover in the air, a first fan having a fixed stator coupled within the aperture of the saucer, a rotatable rotor extend upwards therefrom, and fan blades coupled about the rotor for providing a propelling force for moving the saucer upwards or downwards when the rotor is rotated in one direction or in the opposite direction; a second fan having a fixed stator coupled about the rotor for providing a propelling force for spinning the saucer clockwise or counter-clockwise when the rotor is rotated in one direction or in the opposite direction; a receiver mechanism adapted for receiving signals for controlling the direction of rotation of the fan blades; a power mechanism for energizing the fans and receiver mechanism, and a transmitter mechanism for transmitting signals to the receiver mechanism for controlling the fans.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,914 (Hutchinson) discloses a remote control lighter-than-air toy with a tether. This toy is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,029 (see above) except a tether is used instead of a remote control system.
In the prior art, none of the toy flying devices had three motors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,029 (Hutchinson) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,335 (Thompson) disclose a flight control system based on active vectoring of the tandem motor arrangement to provide altitude changes. The present invention discloses a fixed tandem motor arrangement which operates independently of a third vertically oriented thruster which does not actively change position. Because of the third vertically oriented motor for altitude control, altitude corrections may be obtained much faster because the response time required to re-position the direction of a motor assembly will be longer than the response time needed to simply change the speed of a third fixed motor. Additionally, the third vertically oriented motor can provide altitude corrections independently of the flight motions produced by the tandem motor set used for forward, reverse, left and right. This also enhances the control capability and allows the aircraft to maintain a fixed hover position with greater ease. By comparison, in the Hutchinson and Thompson disclosures, the forward and reverse motions will usually be coupled with an altitude change. That is, a thrust vector between 0 and 90 degrees from the horizontal will produce both a horizontal and vertical motion. This coupling complicates flight control.
The idea of using a third independently operated thruster to provide both lift and anti-spin is unique. This type of arrangement is unique because ordinarily some secondary thrust vectoring is required to provide anti-spin. For example, helicopters use a tail rotor blade, or re-direct engine thrust out of the tail for anti-spin control. A secondary thrust is provided some distance from the vehicle lift point (the main helicopter rotor) because the lift point is at the main rotor hub. However, in the present invention, the main lift point is the balloon which is positioned some distance form the main rotor. In this configuration, the main rotor is able to provide both a lift and a vectored component necessary for anti-spin.
The proposed three motor system also permits a significant weight reduction in the motor assembly, which means the flight toy size can be reduced. The weight penalty associated with vectoring, as in Hutchinson and Thompson) typically is higher than using a third motor. This is one key feature which directly impacts toy size.
In another embodiment of the invention, the balloon toy permits an object to be remotely picked up, placed, and released in flight.